Yesterday, I shared that I was getting my paint on in the front room–which we always have trouble naming. Front room? Living room? Sitting room? Formal living room? Either way, it was getting painted yesterday. My plan was to get the trimming done during Greta’s nap and then roll the wall once she went to bed for the night.

Although it is never fun to see your child sick, our usually energetic-bouncing-off-the-walls-Greta was not feeling well. She took two naps (that hasn’t happened since she was 11 months old) and laid on the couch for the rest of the time she was awake.

All that to say, thanks to our under the weather little girl (cue guilt) I got the painting done in an afternoon, by myself, with British dog, Kipper, in the background. I went with a matte paint color I picked up at Kwal Paint called Crave. It is a very dark charcoal-almost-black warm blue undertones. We luuurrrvvvee it.

It’s dark and moody, but the undertones keep it friendly. In fact, I loved it so much that I didn’t stop with just the one wall (as you can kind of see in the above photo). In a quick, last minute message to Chris at work, I said, “we gotta do all three walls.” To which he replied without hesitation (the man tru-usts me), “go for it!” And I did. Without equal hesitation and no regrets, the wall with the large window got a coat of Crave:

And also the third wall that makes up the living room:

The paint job has completely transformed the room from our original purple paint job.

We can now look at the room and sigh and say, “Of course!” Like we finally pinpointed what we wanted the room to feel like all along.

We would still love to add some paneling to the wall down the road, but the new darker color (especially now that there are three walls of it) really needs no additional accent. So, we are going to focus on rebuilding the room and continue to think about the paneling.

It was a risky move, we realize. And maybe a color (tone?) that isn’t for everyone and definitely not for every room. But for us, the risk paid off. Big time. Are you digging the new darker digs? Or maybe you have already unsubscribed from future posts out of fear. Ha! We can’t wait to add some accessories in here and really make the room sing.

22 Comments

melyssa.good

Oh my goodness. I came here through the link on YHL. I love this color! I’m in the process of picking colors for our whole house and I think this is the perfect shade for our currently eggplant with orangey-trim dining room. A similar deep gray with white trim it is!! Absolutely beautiful. It is so calming and cuddly. This rich shade will really make the built ins pop! Especially when they’re painted lighter. And art in white frames… mmhmm.Thank you for the inspiration! You just got yourself a new follower :)

Jessie McKinley

That looks AMAZING. Seriously so so good. I can’t believe how much it changed the look of the whole room. And I am equally amazed that you got that done in an afternoon!!! What I would give to paint as quickly as you. Sorry your little girlie is sick…no fun!

I LOVE IT. I’m a big fan of the dark. I like the purple, too, but this suits your home more and is coherent with the vibe in the rest of the house. :)

I was reading House Beautiful the other day and there was an article about colors that bloggers, designers, and readers choose for the home. There was a big long list, but no designers/bloggers chose purple for their living room. I thought to myself, “No wonder Julia is changing! She has designer in her blood.” Nice work, girl. I love it.

Karlennsmith

meaganbriggs3

It’s perfect!!! I think it works to go that dark because of all the natural light that comes through that front window. I definitely don’t dig closed off dining rooms with dark colors on the walls. It closes the room in and makes it feel small. THIS is the way to do dark on walls. I can see us doing something like this in our future house.